Interesting Facts About Lightning

Lightning is an amazing and breathtaking sight to witness. At the same time it is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable of all natural phenomena. But how much do you really know about lightning? Even though scientists all over the world are gathering facts about lightning, dividing it into different types, measuring its voltage, monitoring temperature, and creating it in laboratories, it is still impossible to predict the behavior of every lightning bolt. Let’s look through some facts about lightning.

Glass forms when lightning strikes into sandy soil. After a storm you can find strips of glass in the sand.

If you have wet clothes on, lightning will do you less harm.

In March of 1991 a single six-hour storm stretching over Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri caused more than 15,000 lightning strikes. During the storm the skies were ablaze with almost constant lightning.

Lightning hits the Empire State Building (NY, USA) about 23 times a year.

Lightning strikes also occur on Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.

The Aztecs believed that lightning accompanied the dead, splitting the earth and making its way into its depths.

In the Middle Ages it was believed that church bells expelled evil spirits. Thunder and lightning were regarded as diabolical, so during a thunderstorm monks tried to constantly ring the bells. As a result the victims of lightning very often were bell-ringers.

The irrational fear of lightning is known as keraunophobia. The fear of thunder is termed brontophobia.

There are from 100 to 1000 instances of ball lightning at the same time on Earth, but the chance you’ll see at least one in your lifetime is just 0.01%.

Deadly Facts

On average, about 200 people are killed by lightning in the United States every year.

The state of Florida holds the title of the “Deadliest State.” There are twice as many lightning casualties as in any other state. 10% of all people struck by lightning were in Florida at the time.

The chance to be killed by lightning is 1 in 2,000.000. You have the same chance dying from falling out of bed.

Never talk on the phone while a storm is breaking outside. Not only do cell phones “attract” lightning, but about 1% of all lightning deaths in the U.S. are a result of people talking inside the home on a corded phone during a thunderstorm.

About 71% of all people struck by lightning survive. The fatal cases are usually the result of cardiac arrest. However, those who survive often suffer from serious health and psychological problems like loss of memory or sensitivity, insomnia, impaired hearing, or constant pain.

Stories

There are also lots of facts that scientists just cannot explain – for example the seeming “addiction” of lightning to some places or even humans.

Park ranger Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times between 1942 and 1977: in 1942 the lightning burned his thumb and his leg, in July 1969 lightning burned his eyebrows, in July 1970 it burned his shoulder, in April 1972 it scorched his hair, in August 1973 it burned his legs, in June 1976 lightning hit his ankle and in June 1977 he suffered a seared breast and abdomen. Such a destiny let to psychological problems and depression and six years later, in September 1983, Sullivan committed suicide.

Another weird story happened to a Bulgarian woman, Martha Maiko. In 1935, an American tourist, Randolph Eastman, during a thunderstorm asked to stay in her house until the storm ended. A week later they were married, but 2 months later the man was killed by lightning. Later Maiko remarried, this time to a Frenchman named Charles Mort. During their trip to Spain her second husband also was struck by lightning. The widow returned to Sofia and started therapy to heal from depression. Later on she married the doctor she was getting the treatment from. They were married in Berlin, but during a trip to France a lightning bolt hit the car they were driving. The third husband was killed on the spot. As far as the facts say, she was not married for a fourth time.

No one to this day can explain a terrible tragedy that took place in Japan. A class of school students went on a trip. A school teacher told the class to hold onto a rope. Lightning struck and traveled through the rope, killing exactly half of the students. The oddest part is that each even-numbered child in the line was killed and none of the students in odd-numbered positions were even burned.

So even if you a fan of lightning be careful and remember that no one knows its behavior. If you just can’t live without watching the lightning maybe it would be better to purchase a plasma ball!

matty and jack, Calling someone stupid when you fail to use proper punctuation and capitalization in admonishing them really makes you look like the one who is stupid. Using “u” for the word “you”, and “your” for “you are.” Correct form for that one is “you’re”. Also, in correct English, and I am assuming you are English by your usage of the word “mate”. You should know all two digit numbers should be spelled out. Not “30” but thirty… So, to simply put it… Don’t call people stupid.

after being struck by a lightening bolt and survived, i can attest it’s not a pretty experience. while preparing my kool-aid stand and awaiting thirsty tourists on key largo i was blasted a thunderbolt – it left my keds sneakers smoking on the sidewalk while my stand had been blown to ashes –wow!!!

I don’t know any information oh but.
Every second, a large hurricane releases the energy of 10 atomic bombs.
Storms can go up to 12 hours.
Hurricanes are powerful with winds and rain.
Hurricanes most fall in tropical islands.
Hurricanes lose strength when they travel.
The planet Jupiter has a hurricane which has been going on for over 300 years.
Hurricanes may have a diameter of 400 to 500 milesMany hurricanes cause severe flooding.
When there is a storm get out of pools.
If you hear thunder leads to storms, sometimes
Boom of lightning heats up the atmosphere.
Pool, lake, ocean, or any body of water. Water conducts electricity that electricity can travel through water.
Not all storm chasing is done on the ground.
Thunder is caused by lightning.
Lightning is a powerful burst of electricity that happens very quickly during a thunderstorm.
Lightning is caused by an electrical charge in the atmosphere that is unbalanced.
Lightning can occur inside clouds, between clouds and from clouds to the ground.
There are bolts of lightning striking somewhere on Earth every second.
Lightning contains millions of volts of electricity.
At this very moment there are about 1800 thunderstorms.
Glass forms when lightning strikes into sandy soil.

” … No one to this day can explain a terrible tragedy that took place in Japan. A class of school students went on a trip. A school teacher told the class to hold onto a rope. Lightning struck and traveled through the rope, killing exactly half of the students. The oddest part is that each even-numbered child in the line was killed and none of the students in odd-numbered positions were even burned. …”

Well, perhaps “no-one” can explain it, but I can.
The odd numbered children were holding the rope with their right hands, and the even numbered children were holding it with their left hands.
The strike affected each child equally, but the ones holding with their left hands had the current flow through their heart (left side of body) to the ground path made by their feet. This is well known amongst electricians and those working with potentially lethal currents; they never touch a potentially live object with their left hands.

hey that sounds obvious and logical if they were holding on with their left arm as you think.
An idea that comes to mind is the old belief that Earth is even numbers and Heaven is odd numbers.
Earth is number two and heaven is number three as it is wider than Earth and includes the Earth and sky.

Madame la Comtesse of the Dechy of Posen related the following case.
“During a storm which took place in the month of August 1901, lightning entered by a half-open door into a stable where there were twenty cows, and killed then. Beginning with that which was nearest the door, the second was spared, the third killed, the fourth was uninjured and so on. All the uneven numbers were killed, the others were not even burnt”.
M. Elisec Duval of Criquetot l’Esneval (Seine-Inferieure) related a very remarkable case. On June 20, 1892, lightning fell on the telegraph poles of Havre and E’tretat. A dozen were thrown over, and the curious part is that every second one was knocked down.
Another case of equal interest is here. On February 16, 1866, a thunderstorm descended upon a farm in the commune of Chapelle Largeau (Deux-Serves) and the circumstances attending its explosion are too remarkable to be overlooked. After a tremendous thunder clap, a young man who was standing near the farm saw an immense fireball touch the ground at his fee, but it did him no damage, but passed, still harmlessly though a room in the farmhouse in which there were nine persons. The only effect it produced was the flaring up of some matches upon the chimney-piece.
It proceeded towards the stables, which were divided into two compartments. In one there were two cows and two oxen; the first cow, to the right of the entrance, was killed, the second was uninjured; the first ox was killed, the second was uninjured. The same effect was found to have been produced in the other compartment, in which there were four cows: the first and the third were killed, the second and fourth were spared; the odd numbers taken and the even numbers left.

I Am Ryan From Glasgow ( Scotland ), My Brother Got Shocked From Live Wire In His Bedroom. Houses Across From Us Had Been Demolished And We Had Mice For A While And At The Time He Went Too Plug His Playstation 3 Power Into The Wall He Was Shocked, Mice Had Chew Threw The Wire. He Instantly Wet Him Self Etc.. Blew Hole In His Palm about 1cm wide and like 4 mm Deep. Although Its Not Same As Lightening Bolt But Wasnt Pleasant Too See.

Has anybody heard of a “thunder stone”? I lived in Papau New Guinea when I was younger and after a lightening strike that split a tree nearby one of the local natives approached me and handed me a stone he said he found near the stone – he called it a malio stone – this was on the island of Bougainville in 1969. The stone is like a small smooth axe head – a charcoal color and fits in the palm of my hand. He said they found these stone sometimes in the tree struck by lightening and sometimes near the tree.

Many years later I told this story to a friend from Bhutan and showed him the stone – he immediately recognized it as a “thunder stone” and turned to two of this Bhutanese friends who corroborated the story, adding the stone was special and held in high esteem in Bhutan.

I have tried to learn more about the story of such stones – anybody know anything – contact my email.

That is very interesting; I am an archaeologist doing research into cultural perceptions of Neolithic edge-ground stone axes, so-named “thunder stones”, in historical and present-day Southeast Asia and haven’t yet come across such notions in PNG.

If you would care to reply off-list I would be most interested in discussing your recollections of this incident.

Hi Adam I came across your comment when I was searching about this stone. I have such a stone and I really don’t know what to do with it. I was told that they are varuablle in India. I got it from my grandmother after lightning strikes one of her huts.

The mention and myths of these thunderstones are widespread, they are also sometimes known as sky stones/arrows/axes, storm stones, thunder teeth (etc). There appear to be a few more reports aswell;

“A thunderstorm near Vicksburg, MS in 1930 resulted in some rather interesting hailstones. One had a solid piece of alabaster 3/4 inch across. Another was a live 8″ long gopher turtle, entirely encased in ice.”

“In the London Times, Feb. 1, 1888, it is said that a roundish object of iron had been found, ‘after a violent thunderstorm’ in a garden at Brixton, Aug. 17, 1887.”

Well, My great great grandmother is believed to have found a similar stone immediately after a lightning strike near Kalimpong, Darjeeling, India and my grandmother still has one small and one palm sized exactly as andrew said. My granny said that the older people dug the site where the lightning strike in search of an axe. If someone could shed some light in this matter, that would be really helpful. I am a student of science currently in high school. Feel free to contact me.

Yes lightning travels from the ground an goes up, there’s a leader stroke frm de clouds which makes its way downward bt we are not able to see it, when this leadr stroke makes it way to earth, charged particles on earth makes its way upward, wen these both are connected ZAP!! There’s a lightning bolt, but it happens so quickly that we see it as tho its frm above

U r right, lightning can travel from the ground reason being that, the earth’s surface is full of protons and the bottom of the cloud is full of electrons,but its not always the case because we sometimes expeience cloud to cloud kind of lighting.

“The energy contained in a single lightning strike can power a 100 Watt light bulb for 90 days.”
Someone has got their facts wrong. The energy contained in a single lightning strike can power a whole city for an entire year. That’s a fact to remember.

Too many unsubstantiated numbers. The wiki article on lightning — I think that was the article — says a bolt has an energy of 5 billion joules. A kiloWatt-hr is 3.6 million joules, so a bolt would be about 1.4 MW-hrs. This would be 14,000 100W bulbs for _one_ hour or one 100W bulb for 14,000 hours. No way is that a city for a year. A year is only about 8760 hours long. So we’re talking only two 100W bulbs for just under a year, if the 5 billion joules figure is correct.